A wide variety of barbeque grill assemblies have been provided in the prior art for use either with particulate fuels such as charcoal briquettes or liquid fuel.
Many of these barbeque grill assemblies are mounted wheels to make them portable and facilitate their movement from one location to another, often in outdoor areas of the home.
Such barbeque grill assemblies typically include a bowl-like base mounted on a suitable support such as a central pedestal or legs including wheels to make the unit portable as noted above. Where the barbeque unit is contemplated for use with charcoal briquettes, a cooking grill is normally mounted in the bowl above a fuel grill for receiving the briquettes.
The barbeque units commonly have an enclosure formed between the bowl and a dome-shaped lid with vents regulating the flow of air or oxygen through the interior to adjust the rate of burning of the briquettes. Operation is further enhanced by providing a accessories such as shelves for receiving food containers or cooking utensils. In addition, much of the prior art is directed toward arrangements for facilitating movement of the lid by a user in order to maintain the lid in open position upon the bowl and allow the user to add food to the cooking grill, rotate food articles already on the grill, replace or add charcoal briquettes or the like.
Representative barbeque grill assemblies of the type referred to above have been disclosed for example U.S. Pat. No. 3,611,915 issued Oct. 12, 1971 to Glaser; U.S. Pat. No. 3,689,758 issued Sep. 5, 1972 to Stephen, Jr.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,714,937 issued Feb. 6, 1973 to Lindstead; U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,076 issued May 22, 1973 to Kiziol; U.S. Pat. No. 4,390,002 issued Jun. 29, 1983 to Daily, III; U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,530 issued Jun. 12, 1994 to Schlosser; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,574 issued Jun. 18, 1985 also to Schlosser; U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,613 issue Jan. 13, 1987 to Tucker, et al. discloses a barbeque grill with a lid support means comprising clips mounted to a support structure away from the grill. However, it appears necessary for a user to first lift the lid and then insert it into a supported position on the clips.
The examples noted above are merely representative of barbeque assemblies available in the prior art and generally corresponding to the above described features.
The variety of barbeque grill assemblies available in the prior art is indicative of the widespread use and popularity of such units particularly for home or family use. However, there has been found to remain a need for further improvements in the units, particularly for facilitating their use under a wide variety of conditions and to allow the user to employ individual skills or techniques in the preparation of various foods.
Furthermore, a conversion means to convert a grill to a smoker in a quick, easy, and inexpensive manner provides the user with an option as to how to prepare food using a single grill assembly saving space and cost of a separate grill and smoker unit.